


Away From Home

by NormieScum



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angela Zieglar, Angst, Blind!Soldier, Canon Themes, Drabble, F/M, Fluff and Angst, He's not completely blind., Jack Morrison - Freeform, John Morrison - Freeform, Mercy - Freeform, Mercy76, Soldier 76 - Freeform, Straight™, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 11:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8712526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NormieScum/pseuds/NormieScum
Summary: It feels wrong holding her now, he doesn’t deserve this and they both know it. “You know this is what I do.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just some angsty drabble about Jack reconnecting with Angela I couldn't talk myself out of writing. The timeline of this takes place a month or so after the Old Soldiers comic. It's my first Overwatch writing and I'm really excited to get a chance to do it! I've been in Mercy76 hell recently and the ship needs more appreciation. :) I hope it's okay, i'm very novice to this fandom and ship though! But thanks for reading <3

It seemed like hundreds of years had passed since his combat boots had touched down on this dirt. One of the Overwatch facilities known to be their main base, seemed empty now. Holding the pulse rifle down to his side once he was sure the area was clear, Jack moved forward quietly so he didn’t alert the old security devices that used to give him hell when he was younger.

He remembered those nights clearly, sneaking out into the night with Angela. They’d take a bottle of cheap whiskey and stare into the night sky wondering where they’d be at the next day. Always under the same sky, yet so far from home. The more he’d thought about it, he'd never really had a home. Overwatch had been important to him, it’d given him somewhere to shine after leaving the military. Yet it was never enough.

Often, he told himself that he was a good guy, he was always just trying to do right by everyone. It was his duty to take care of people, to save people. In a way, he was the boy scout that his ex-friends accused him of being and he found it hard to hate himself for that. He hated himself for a lot of reasons yet he could never hate that piece of himself.

But being back here, made him loath every part of himself.

It wasn’t long before he realized the base wasn’t empty, there were tire tracks in the sand and shell casings laying throughout. Had they been compromised? Jack bent down to examine the rounds of ammunition on the ground, they weren’t from friendly fire since Overwatch used mostly pulse ammunitions. Within moments, the old soldier felt cold metal pressing to the back of his skull causing the hairs on his arms to stand on end. He had a habit of rushing and not paying attention to his surroundings so it wasn’t uncommon for him to find himself in situations such as this. He was about to whip around and knock the person senseless but that voice.

The reason he’d come back to this place.

“Drop the weapon, soldier or I’ll drop you.” Her thick accent might be hard for some to understand but for Jack, he caught every single word. And it left him breathless. He could hear the way her breathing was labored and it was easy to tell she was scared even when he was not looking at her. She had a certain shakiness to her voice when she was concerned, he’d grown to know it all too well.

“It’s okay, Miss. I’m not here to hurt you.” He reassured, his brusque voice noticeably gentler than usual. Laying his pulse rifle on the ground, Jack raised his hands into the air and glanced over his shoulder to meet with those pale blue eyes. His tactical mask, keeping his identity hidden seemed to bare a significant amount of weight now. He wanted to look at her the way he used to but it was not possible.

The gear he wore now was to thank for a large bit of his sight. After a few too many accidents, his eye sight was subpar and while he wasn’t completely blind, he was close to it. He could make out his general surroundings with glasses but it just wasn’t enough to keep him alive. The gear had saved his life many times but now, it was saving his life in a different way.

The man had never expected to be able to see the love of his life again, yet now she stood above him clear as day. She looked as beautiful and young as ever. Her soft blonde hair was much longer now and she had it braided and swept off to the side. Small strands clung around her flushed cheeks and her eyes left him spellbound for what could have been centuries passing between them. But the sadness that inevitably clung to her eyes shown through and brought him down from his high.

“What’s wrong..?” He asked her, as if she were an old friend to this new persona he’d taken on. She blinked in surprise and backed away. Her pistol still held out in front of her as the soldier rose to his feet and turned to watch her. His hands remained in the air for a few seconds before he lowered them to his sides.

“How do you know of this place?” She’s obviously leery and Jack is shocked that she hasn’t caught on yet.

“I came here…for you.” He admits finally. While he is here on business, the business is all about her.

“For me?” The disbelief causes her to lower the pistol but he can tell that she’s still sizing him up. Preparing herself in case she must shoot him. And she’d do it too. Part of him thinks she might even do it after he tells her it’s him. He’d thought about this moment so many times but he could never come up with words to express himself. He’d been with her in dimness and strength, never once had he struggled to communicate his feelings to her. But now, he was different. Emotions didn’t come easily and most of the time when they did, he’d wake up screaming his love for her. His face soaked with tears and his head swimming with regrets.

“For you, Angela.” His hand goes to the mask, gently unlatching the clasp and as he slowly lifts it down he hears her small gasp of shock. He’s no longer the muscular, blonde hunk that he was when they were acquainted. He’s hunched over slightly and his body is riddled with scars and irregularities but she sees through the battered exterior once he opens his eyes. They’re cloudy now, the blue almost washed away but she can see it. She recognizes the boundless fight in his eyes and it dawns on her, this is the Jack Morrison she’d fallen in love with long ago.

“Oh, Jack-” Her voice cracks and she falls against him in a heap of herself. The way she says his name, awakens something inside of him and he begins to feel like Jack again. Instead of Soldier 76, although he is still cautious. She completely lets her guard down like she hasn’t in so many years, like she only could do when she was around him. “I thought you were-” She can’t even complete the sentence, it’s obvious what she was about to say. His arms wrap around her frame and he holds her close. Resting his chin to the top of her head, he lets himself become comfortable as well, for the first time in so long.

“Me too, for a while.” He whispers, his heart beating louder than his words.

“I waited for you to come back, why didn’t you come back? It's safe here now, the others should be back tomorrow...you should stay.” While he's relieved to know that she's safe, he knows he can't stay. And they both know why he didn't come back, so he chooses silence instead of redundant words that can’t elucidate how sorry he is for abandoning her. Instead, he turns instead to business.

“I’ve found Ana. We’re working together…I came back because I thought maybe you’d consider-” She cuts him off, ripping away and shaking her head. The tears are streaming down her cheeks now and she breaks into sobs.

“And see you get hurt /again/, no! I can’t! When are you going to give this up, Jack?”

“I’m not.” She’s angry at this, pushing him away and slamming her small fists to his chest before slumping to the ground at his feet. He collects himself before lowering down to scoop her from the ground as if she were a toddler throwing a tantrum. It feels wrong holding her now, he doesn’t deserve this and they both know it. “You know this is what I do.” He sets her down and she stands before him, staring at the ground.

“I know. I’d just hoped maybe after all this time, you’d realize you’re going to get yourself killed out there.” She laughs, it isn’t amusing but, she laughs. Her blue eyes meet his again and just as he’s about to put the mask back on, her hand rests gently on top of his. Jack squints, watching her carefully and as he tries to speak he’s cut off by her lips on his. He kisses back gently and drops the mask to the dirt at their feet so that he can hold her in his arms once more, as if it will be the last time and deep down, he knows it will be the last time. She’s sweeter than anything he’s ever had the pleasure of tasting, there’s so much more he wants with her right now but he limits his thoughts. One of his hands rests on her hip and she melts completely into his arms the way she used to do. Her knees buckle and she leans her weight against him. Pausing, his lips curve at the edges and he smiles. She can feel herself getting worked up again, the lump in her throat rising at the sight. His haze covered eyes can’t make out much but he sees blue. Deep blue that reminds him of open ocean and freedom. And bright blonde, reminding him of warm sunshine and summer days he’d spent with her. Suddenly, all the unspoken words and the allusive what-ifs become tragic. He kisses her again, softer this time. And again, as he mentally prepares himself for the heartache he’ll feel when he pulls himself away. Once more, he tells himself. For luck. But it becomes another, and another and before he knows it, they’re back to kissing passionately. But he’s taken up so much of her time, and so much of his own valuable time so he stops. And it’s bittersweet.

“You’re beautiful.”

“You’re getting so old but…you’re still so good,” she shivers, but her smile is still there. “Just as handsome as ever.” She traces over the old scar across his face, frowning. “You’ll come back to me someday. Tired and beaten…just like now but next time, you’ll be ready to stop.” It’s unlikely. No, impossible. But he muses along with her.

“I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to put up a white picket fence...adopt a dog or somethin’” He laughs, although soothed by the thought. “Coming home to a beautiful woman like you…could make a man wanna settle down.” He starts to put the mask back on, half hoping that she’ll stop him. But she doesn’t. Once his eyes adjust and he can see her clear as day, he’s happy that she didn’t stop him.

“Just make sure you don’t die on me now, soldier.” She pats his shoulder, gently massaging. It’s a force of habit, she wants him to be comfortable. Happy. Even if it comes in small displays of affection. The action causes him to sigh out and when he looks at her hand, he’s caught up in domestic thoughts which he quickly pushes away.

“I promise, Angela.”

“I’ll see you,” she whispers, standing up straight to press a kiss over the mask. Right about where his mouth would be. Her hand rests on his chest for a moment before she pulls away and backs off to watch him pick the rifle up off the ground. When he turns away from her, it’s hard to walk at first but surely enough his feet shuffle forward. “I love you.” She calls out and when he turns back to her he says it back. It feels cliché and makes his chest swell, but it’s his only chance to say it and years down the road when he’s dying, he’ll be glad he did.

It isn’t until he’s back to his jeep that he realizes, he’s had a home all along. It’s not a point on a map or a comfortable bed to go back to. His home comes in the form of a person, comforting and safe. He should’ve known all along. The horrible feelings come flooding back and all his happiness seems to fade. He has little keepsakes that remind him of her; a Polaroid of the two of them in training, the pocket knife he used to carve their names into the oak tree at the base, a few letters they’d exchanged. But not even the precious mementos or lingering memories can sooth the steady ache that fills his old bones or the shiver of cold in his spine from being away from home.


End file.
